


Peppermint?

by xSNOWx



Category: Venom (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Husbands Having an Argument, M/M, Male Pronouns for Symbiotes, Sleeper is just a curious baby, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16308143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSNOWx/pseuds/xSNOWx
Summary: Sleeper is curious about the human “spawning”. Eddie is not ready to have this conversation. And Venom is having too much fun with the situation.





	Peppermint?

**Author's Note:**

> Translation into 中文 done by [KlyntarCompatriot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlyntarCompatriot/pseuds/KlyntarCompatriot) can be found [HERE](http://xyqysm.lofter.com/post/1d551297_12c1fe181)!

The Brocks are at the convenience store. Eddie and Venom just picked their son up from Alchemax. Sleeper is stronger now, and he can stay longer periods of time with his parents. On the way back home, they stop to restock their food supply, the little symbiote is almost eating like his dad. They are at the candy department, Eddie is browsing the shelves, his love is currently his jacket and his son insisted he wanted to try shifting, he wanted to be a scarf. What Eddie is wearing looks anything but a scarf, but the proud parents don’t mind, they are amazed by Sleeper’s determination.  

While his parents are busy discussing the nutrition facts label, something catches Sleeper’s attention. On the opposite shelf, there is a woman. She is reading something in the package she is holding. Sleeper notices something odd about her. Apparently, she looks like every woman he’d seen in his short life, but she smells really different from the others. Physically everything looks the same, everything but one considerably big detail...  
  
“ _Father, father, father!_ ” Sleeper whispers poking his father’s neck with a small tendril to get his attention.  
  
“Yes, sweetie?”  
  
“ _What’s wrong with that woman?_ ”  
  
“What woman?” Eddie turns his head to see what his child is talking about. The woman puts the product in her basket and calmly walks towards the cashier. Eddie didn’t notice anything different about her. “What do you mean?”  
  
“ _She smells different_...” A small head pokes out of Eddie’s “scarf”. Sleeper stares intensely at the woman like she is an anomaly “ _Why is her belly so big? Why is only her belly fat? Why is she not all fat like other fat people?_ ” Eddie studies the woman. She is a little short, medium brown hair, somewhat thin except for a big round belly. It takes a few seconds for him to understand why his son is so startled by the woman... Sleeper has never seen a pregnant woman before.  
  
“Ooh.” Eddie smiles and returns his attention to the product he was reading. “She is pregnant.”  
  
“ _She’s peppermint?_ ” Sleeper looks at his father curiously.  
  
“No Sleeps, pregnant, she is pregnant.” Eddie turns his head to kiss his son's little head. “She is expecting a baby, she is going to be a mother soon.”  
  
“ _A baby? Is there a baby inside her belly?_ ” Sleeper asks, his little red eyes widening.  
  
“Yep, that’s why her belly is so big.” Eddie chuckles at his son surprise. “So what do you guys want? This candy bar has raisins and coconut and this other one peanut and dried blueberries, both of them low-sugar.”  
  
“ **None! Eddie, let’s get the one with caramel, marshmallow and covered with chocolate**!” Venom disagrees with his husband and extends a sneaky tendril to get his product.  
  
“No, don’t you dare darling!” Eddie gently slaps his other’s tendril . “We discussed this, the kid is eating too much sugar. We need to start eating a little more healthy.”  
  
“ **I did not agree with this**!” Venom pouts and reaches out to grab his beloved candy bar.  
  
“No!” Eddies pulls the stubborn tendril back to him.  
  
“ **The little one gets healthy food, I get my candy bars**!”  
  
“We are his family, we need to set a good example! We all gonna eat healthy food.”  
  
“ **We need a lot of sugar Eddie! Need energy to fight criminals**!”  
  
“We can gain energy with a balanced diet. And Sleeper is not fighting criminals, he is too young for that. Besides, he has too much energy stored, we gotta control his energy levels. He needs to stop eating so much sugar.” Eddie sighs. “Look love, it doesn’t mean we are going to stoping eating what we like, we are just controlling the portions, okay?”  
  
Venom stays quiet, but the sneaky tendril is back in action once again. And another round of arguments starts.  
  
Sleeper doesn't pay much attention to his parents' arguments, he stares at the spot where the strange woman was minutes ago. Gears turning inside his little head while he analyses the new information he learned today.  
 

 

-

 

The Brock family is back to their humble home. Eddie is laying on the bed reading a magazine. Venom is on top of his husband, happily eating a box of high-sugar, high-calorie and covered with chocolate candy bars. Venom wants it, Venom gets it. And the little Sleeper is sprawled out on a carpet in from of the TV watching ThunderCats. Everything is peaceful, the traffic sounds from outside, the downstairs neighbors fighting, Venom’s chomping sounds, a classic ‘ThunderCats Ho’ from the TV. Eddie sighs contently.  
  
Eddie is reading an article when he suddenly senses a swift change in his other's mind. He is worried.  
  
“What’s wrong love?”  
  
 “ **The little one Eddie**.” Venom points a tendril at their son direction. Sleeper is staring at the TV’s blue screen. Usually when a movie or cartoon is over, the little symbionte rewinds the VHS to watch it again for the umpteenth time or he simply switches the tape. They exchange worried looks, he gets up and walks to their son.  
  
“Hey champ, what’s up? - Eddie sits on the floor and hauls Sleeper into his lap, while Venom warps a tendril around their son protectively.  
  
“ _Oh, I was just thinking_...” He looks up to his parents’ worried eyes. “ _You know, about that woman we saw at the market today, the peppermint woman?_ ”  
  
“ **It’s pregnant Sleeper, pregnant woman**.” His dad corrected, nuzzling his son affectionately.  
  
“ _Yeah, the pregnant woman_.”  
  
Eddie chuckles lightly. “What about her?”  
  
“ _Well, you said she was expecting a baby, so I was thinking_...” Sleeper looks at both of his parents, eyes glowing with curiosity. “ _Can father get pregnant too?_ ”   
  
Silence fills the room and it lasts for a few seconds before Eddie starts bursting into laughter.  
  
“ _What? What’s so funny?_ ”  
  
Venom slaps Eddie’s face with a tendril to make him stop his laughter. “ **Don’t mind him little one. And to your question, no. Only female humans get pregnant**.”  
  
“ _You mean women?_ ” Sleeper asks tilting his head to the side.  
  
“ **Yes, and your father is a male, a man**.”  
  
Eddie recovers from his sudden laughs. “Sorry about that champ. But yeah, your dad is right. Only women can get pregnant.”  
  
“ _Ooh... I thought everyone could have a baby_.” Sleeper knows a little about how he came to this world. They told him some things about the day he was born, and explained just superficially how the klyntar spawning works. His father is a human and his dad is a klyntar, aside their obvious physical differences, Sleeper doesn’t know the extensive differences between the two species. “ _So... If only women can have babies, what do men do?_ ”  
  
“Well, it needs both a woman and a man to conceive a baby. There is a big difference between how humans and klyntar reproduce.” Eddies explains rubbing his son's little body.  
  
Sleeper purrs contently, but his littles eyes glow with curiosity once again. “ _So if humans don't spawn like klyntar do, how does the baby get into the woman’s belly?_ ”  
  
Eddie freezes, he looks at his darling who is grinning at him the most malicious way possible. He narrow his eyes at Venom, and they start a conversation in their minds, like they do every time they want to talk about something Sleeper is not ready to hear yet.   
  
**Tell him beloved**.

I’m not having this kind of conversation, he is just a kid!

**He is young and he is smart**. 

Yes, I know that, but it doesn’t mean he is ready to know about sex. 

**What is the problem Eddie? He is not a human. Tell him**. 

It doesn’t matter the species, he is too young for this! And why does this matter to him? He doesn’t need it in his life.  

**Hmm maybe... But now he has a question. The little one won’t stop until he gets an answer**.  
  
Yeah your right love... I just gonna tell him the birds and bees story.  
  
**The what?**  
  
Well, It’s just a way to explain to kids about reproduction without telling them about sex.  
  
Eddie shares a memory with Venom about the whole bird and bees story.  
  
**That is stupid. Sleeper is too smart. It will only deceive him for a few hours**.  
  
So if I can’t tell him this stupid story, I’m not telling him anything! Just tell him to ask us again in a few years.  
  
**Explain to him or he is going to ask the fat doctor**.  
  
Oh God, no....  
  
Eddie is overreacting, he knows that, but he can’t control his father instincts from kicking in and protect his kid from things he is not ready to understand. He knows Dr. Steve would probably explain the most scientific way of human reproduction and then leave the most embarrassing details to Eddie. He needs a plan.  
  
“ _Guys, guys_.” Sleeper waves his small tendrils to get his parents' attention.  
  
“ **Your father will explain to you little one**.” Venom grins, and Eddie shoots daggers at his darling.  
  
“So... Hmm... To conceive a baby... Hmm... The man and the woman need to... They need to stay close to each other, really close, and then...”  
  
“ _And then?_ ” Sleeper eyes widen with curiosity.  
  
“And then... The man creates a little... seed. And then he puts it inside the woman’s tummy, and the seed becomes the baby.”  
  
Sleeper frowns. “ _But how a seed enters her tummy? Can her skin absorbs the seed? The seed is hard, right? How?_ ”  
  
“No, it’s not a solid seed it’s... It’s a...” Eddie scans the room trying to find a solution, he wipes his forehead then he looks at his wet hand... That's his answer! “It’s like sweat! The seed is in liquid form just like sweat. But only a male can produce this seed, and then the woman absorbs the liquid seed. There you go!” Eddie proudly smiles of his made up story.  
  
“ _So... They need to touch each other. Then the man produces a seed and he gives it to the woman. And her skin absorbs the seed into her tummy and that’s how they make a baby!?_ ”  
  
“Y-Yeah, kind of.” Eddie smiles awkwardly to his son. He watches Sleeper’ expressions change from curious to... panic?  
  
Sleeper opens his little mouth lets a loud shriek, startling his parents. “ _YOU_ _TOUCHED_ _AUNT LIZ THE OTHER DAY!! IS SHE PEPPERMINT!?_ ”  
  
Eddie is stunned, he looks at his family, Sleeper looks terrified and Venom is growling loudly and glaring at him. “NO! No, nonono! Love don’t, don’t look at me like that! You know that’s not... You know I would never! You know how it works, you know it, so stop it.”  
  
Venom’s growls stop, but he is still glaring at Eddie, he can sense his love jealousy. He sighs and looks at his son. “It’s not like that Sleeps.”  
  
“ _B-But you said, touching_.”  
  
“Yeah, I know, but it’s more than just touching. They need to touch each other for a long time, like, an hour... No, two hours! And it is an especial event like... Like a ritual, so it only happens on... rare occasions. They both need to agree before the ritual begins. So it's okay for a man and a woman touch each other casually, understand?”  
  
“ _Hmm, yeah I do... This... This makes sense_.” A precious smile spreads across his face. “ _Thanks for telling me father!_ ” Sleeper leaps off his father's lap, and crawls towards the pile of VHS tapes, to find a different movie to watch.  
  
Eddie lays on his back, Venom crawls over his chest and looks down at his silly human, entering his mind to have a private talk.  
  
**You did it**.  
  
Yeah, I did it. It was not so difficult. You know... You don't need to get jealous. You are the only one for me, my love.  
  
**Yes, I know. But just the thought of it... Made me angry. Sorry**.  
  
It’s okay darling. I love you.  
  
**I love you too**.  
  
They stay on the floor listening to their son laughing at something on TV. Everything is back to normal. 

 

 

**Do not touch a woman ever again**.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sure Captain America understood that reference. Did you?
> 
> Sweet Sparda this longer than I expected.  
> A friend once told me that the 'seed story' is what his parents told him when he was little, I just made a few adjustments.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you guys liked it. If there are any mistakes, please let me know.
> 
> Thank you, thank you! o/


End file.
